On a night where a Biblical downpour has forced a raft of Sydney venues to close, all three floors of Darlinghurst’s loudest pub are heaving. The Taphouse, teetering on a narrow corner that splits the streets of Flinders and South Dowling, is a Saturday night spot that requires loud voices, composure in tight spaces and a sharp pair of beer goggles to navigate its endless staircase.
It’s not a new place. In one form or another, a pub has stood on this location since 1878, originally operating as a family-run joint called the Palace Hotel. It sold to local brewery Tooth & Co in 1952, and rebranded as The Local Taphouse after changing hands again in 2007. Ten years later, it was taken over by hospo bros Josh and James Thorpe, the latter of which moved on to establish Odd Culture Group having opened its first pop-up right here.
After closing its doors indefinitely in 2023, The Taphouse was resurrected in September by Applejack Hospitality, the minds and money behind Rafi, The Butler and nearby Forrester’s, as well as the state’s first-ever surf park Urbnsurf.
The ground floor, walled with yellow tiles and sports screens, could fool you into thinking this is any old pub. But upstairs there’s a sophisticated feel: candlelit tables and wood-panelled walls and a private corner spot known (however unsettlingly) as “The Cage”. Climb another staircase and you’ll reach the Med-inspired rooftop terrace, refurbished with a fully retractable roof, plus picnic tables and linen parasols blanched white and blue.
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Linking all three floors is the building’s original staircase from the 1920s. As you scale its wide wooden steps you start to feel more like you’re going rogue at an aristocrat’s house party than trying to locate the pub toilets.
Applejack picked up head chef Sam Ng, formerly of Hong Kong venues Ho Lee Fook, Praya and Stanley, to helm the pass. Together, he and culinary director Patrick Friesen (ex-Queen Chow Enmore, Ms G’s) have swapped out pies and schnitties for spring rolls and dumplings, with a dedicated Cantonese-style menu for peckish drinkers.
The kitchen flavours flow straight through to the bar, with cocktails smacking of Chinese spices. There’s a Five Spice Bloody Mary that simmers with the pub’s house-made spice mix, and a Smoked Old Fashioned, bitter with lapsang souchong tea leaves.
For something sour, go for the Szechuan Margarita, creamy with coconut and dots of sesame oil with a complex tang of tequila, lime, orange curaçao and a crust of Szechuan pepper. The Plum Hoisin Spritz is the perfect tonic. It’s sweeter and juicier than your typical Spritz, combining Amaro Montenegro, plum, hoisin and a stick of cucumber.
Elsewhere, the 20-odd draught beers feature local stalwarts like Philter Super Cool Lager and Mountain Culture’s Status Quo Pale Ale, while the fridge packs long necks of Chinese Tsingtao. The wine list is, for a pub, comprehensive, reaching as far as skin-contact orange and chilled red, with a menu that caringly sorts them by body and complexity.
The food angles for the familiar and comforting. The snack menu, reading like your post-pub takeaway order, features simple sets of prawn wontons, veggie dumplings, and spring rolls with plum sauce. Among the standard-issue items, though, dishes like the bang bang chicken wings, running hot and sticky with sesame and chilli, are worth venturing from your go-tos. While eyes might roll at the sight of $6 prawn crackers (you have to pay for these now?) the nibbles are everything you need them to be: hot, crisp and salt-stained counterweights to your cold beer refills.
The larger plates offer more surprises. Notably, the sweet and sour pork, which comes cased in a sumptuously crisp batter, is dotted with juicy bursts of strawberries. Meanwhile, Ng’s “hero dish”, a wok-fried mud crab, arrives perched on a throne of ginger, shallots and springy egg noodles.
Disappointingly, you might find that some items are unavailable (one day, Oolong Espresso Martini) – while others are, but don’t show up on the QR code menu (we got to you, bang bang chicken wings). New as it is, The Taphouse may still be experiencing some teething problems, or may be straining under the weight of weekend warriors.
Word to the wise: check out their aptly considered table guide before you book. Whether you’re planning a cosy date night in “The Cage” or a rowdy night out on the dance floor, this floor-to-floor walk-through will save you having to shout your best chat-up lines over the booming sound system, or trying to have a boogie in the table-service dining room.
The Taphouse isn’t without its inducements either. Darlo locals have been coming here for nearly 150 years, and now with weekly trivia nights, a daily happy hour, and mid-week offers (including a seriously good-value $12 pork chop curry on Wednesdays), we reckon this old boozer is here to stay.
Time Out Sydney never writes starred reviews from hosted experiences – Time Out covers restaurant and bar bills for reviews so that readers can trust our critique.
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